Author Note:

*EDIT 1/26/29* You've reached the last actual chapter. Congratulations.

Investigation time! Finally!

Trigger Warnings: Death, implication os of drowning 

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A hand gently brushed against my shoulder.

This isn't real... I don't want it to be real...

"I can't believe it..." I cried. "He's really dead..."

The hand on my shoulder had a stronger presence.

Thank you, Minerva.

"Why... Why him?" I cried. "Why is it him?!"

"F-Felix, do ya need to leave?" Hunter asked me. "We won't judge ya if you do."

"N-No, I-I..." I shook my head, forcing myself to stand up. "I'm good."

My eyes focused on Amelia, who leaned over to look at the body.

How does she keep her calm at a time like this?!

"Do we have to go through another class trial and... execution?" Quartz questioned, tearing up.

"Unfortunately, yes." Zenith frowned.

"I don't think I can do that." Quartz replied, beginning to cry.

"That sucks for you!" Tiger the Dog popped up at the worst possible time. "Unsurprisingly, another one of you caved in. So there will be another trial and execution."

I don't think I can do this...

"If you guys keep standing around crying then you'll be the ones getting executed instead of the killer." Tiger added on.

I might just do that. There's really no point in me investigating.

Even if I could bring myself to look in that direction, what could I do?

...

Nothing...

I started to sniffle. Before I knew it, I was crying waterfalls again.

...

Everyone's going to die here.

"Felix, um," Minerva wiped her tears, hesitating to leave me. "I'm gonna go investigate."

...

Fawn!

"I-I'm going with you!" I announced. "I need to figure out who attacked Fawn."

"You sure?" She questioned.

"Yes." I nodded.

I turned around to follow her, only to freeze at the sight of his body. Seeing it for the third time made my hands shake, tears taking the opportunity to roll down my face once more.

...I have to do this.

For him.

For Fawn.

For myself.

"Y-Yeah." I assured Minerva once more.

The few feet it took to walk to the pool was a long one. My feet moved so slowly, clearly not wanting me to go near there again.

"What's your diagnosis?" Minerva asked Amelia.

"I do not have a diagnosis because I do not have a patient to diagnose." Amelia explained to her. "If you are asking for an autopsy report, then I have nothing to report."

"How?" I asked. "He must have died somehow..."

"I need to properly look at the body." Amelia explained. "However, I fear I will obfuscate the crime scene."

"I think most people already know what the scene looked like." The journalist told her. "Unlike last time, there doesn't seem to be much evidence here."

"Yeah." I nodded, averting my gaze from the water. "No blood or anything here."

"Give me a moment." Amelia told us.

Amelia shedded her trench coat to reveal a gray sweater. She also took her boots off. Then she plopped herself into the pool, splashing both Minerva and I.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" I asked her.

"Retrieving the body." The coroner replied. "I thought that was obvious by my question of whether I could tamper with the crime scene."

"Y-Yeah, but..." I found myself speechless, watching her.

Amelia was taking the body out of the pool!

The pinkette carefully sat the body down, before putting her shoes and coat back on. She began touching the body, completely unfazed by the man being dead.

"He drowned, right...?" I guessed, having to look away from Amelia.

"Correct." Amelia said. "Though, he has red marks on his neck, likely from being forced underwater."

"H-Holy shit..." I gasped. "This k-killer..."

"That's awful!" Minerva also gasped.

"Indeed." The pinkette stood up, her lower half soaked in water.

"HEY!" Someone yelled from the doorway.

The three of us swiftly turned to see Rory. They had reentered the room to see that the body was no longer in the pool.

"What are you guys doing?!" They demanded to know.

"Investigating." Amelia answered. "If the cadaver is floating face down in the pool, there isn't much you can learn from it and the crime scene."

"Oh." Rory relaxed. "You two made sure that Amelia didn't mess with anything, right?"

"Yes." Minerva nodded. "She didn't do anything."

"Though, someone could still interfere with the body at this state." Deduced the pink haired coroner. "Rory get someone else and guard the body."

Rory looked like they wanted to protest, but didn't.

"Alright..." They looked around. Most people had already left the room. "Quartz."

"Uh, y-yes...?" Quartz wiped her tears, mascara running down her cheeks. "Sorry... I didn't hear what you were talking about..."

"If you want, you can guard the body with me." Rory offered. "I completely understand if you don't want to..."

"I will." She agreed.

Quartz wiped all her tears and mascara in one go, before joining Rory beside the body.

"To recap, we know he died due to drowning." Minerva read over her notes. "There are also red marks on his neck, likely from being forced underwater."

"Does that mean the killer is really strong?" I guessed.

"Not necessarily." Amelia chimed in. "Factors other than strength could have played into the murder."

"Like wh-what?" I asked her.

"Right now, I do not have enough evidence to make an educated guess." She said.

Minerva took note of that.

"Is that everything that we need to do in here?" I asked the journalist.

"Not quite." Her voice trailed. Her eyes drifted towards Rory and Quartz.

We made our way over to the two people by the pool... and the body.

"Can I ask you two some questions?" Minerva asked them.

"Yeah, sure." Rory agreed. "I can't think of anything helpful I could tell you, though."

"What can you tell me about the pool party?" Minerva questioned them. "There was supposed to be another one today, from my knowledge."

Rory's eyes darted towards the body, then back up.

"Oh..." They let out a sigh. "It's definitely canceled with no plans of rescheduling."

"Aww." Minerva frowned, before prompting them with another question. "Who was planning to attend the pool party again?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong; Zenith, Gabriel, Hunter, Quartz, you and I planned on going." Rory informed us.

"Nikolas too." Quartz added. "Hunter and I, well mostly Hunter, convinced him to go."

"So Zenith, Gabriel, Hunter, Nikolas, Quartz, Rory, you, and Minerva, planned on going?" I asked the journalist for confirmation.

"Looks like it." Minerva glanced over her notebook page. "Rory, do you know when you started cooking dinner for the pool group?"

"Around 3 PM." They replied. "We started eating around 4 PM."

"Alright." Minerva turned to Quartz. "Can you give me your account of today?"

"I can confirm that we ate at 4 PM because I was there." She said. "Also... The body discovery announcement played once Hunter, Nikolas, and I entered this room."

"That means you three found the body and set off the announcement?" I questioned for confirmation.

"It does, unless somebody else can prove otherwise." Minerva made note of that.

"I wish I could tell you more, but I haven't been very active lately..." Quartz frowned. "Losing my nail polish to the scavenger hunt, followed by the motive haven't been the most ideal circumstances."

"I understand." I assured her. "You two have been very helpful with your accounts."

I wish I could do the same.

"Are we done here?" I asked Minerva.

"Yeah." The redhead confirmed.

We left the pool room, finding Tabitha waiting on us. A few others were walking to other rooms, conducting investigations of their own.

"Bestie!" Tabitha cheerfully greeted me.

"H-Hey." I greeted her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you," She explained. "I figured you would need my support after going into the room that shall not be named."

I gave her a weak smile, before she leaned in close to whisper to me.

"I, uh, heard about Fawn from Blane and Nora..." Tabitha admitted. "I also saw the puddle... Um..."

...

"Let me know if you, like, want a hug or something..." She awkwardly offered me with the best intentions.

"I could use a hug right about now." I told her, starting to tear up again.

"Here." Tabitha gave me a hug.

"Thank you." I told her. "You're a great friend. The best, actually."

"I know." She joked. She pulled away from me and gave me an affectionate pat on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your best friend moment, but I have some questions for Tabitha." Minerva butted in.

"They aren't hard questions, are they?" My bestie curiously asked.

"Not unless you're lying." The journalist winked.

"Okay!" Tabitha took a deep breath, preparing herself. "What are your questions?"

"What were you doing today?" She asked.

"Well... Uh..." Tabitha stopped to think for a minute. "I helped Rory cook dinner."

"Do you know what time you started and stopped cooking?" Minerva asked.

"We started at dinner time and we ended when we got done." The blonde elaborated, poorly.

"I meant to ask if you know the specific times for when it started and stopped." Minerva explained.

"I have no idea when we started, but I know we ended after 4 PM, like 4:20-ish, because Rory made me late for Felix and I's hangout." Tabitha shrugged. She then crossed her arms. "Rory could have waited to go get their swimsuit until after we were done, but we were behind schedule or whatever."

"Cooking ended around 4:20 PM..." Minerva recited. "What's this about a swimsuit?"

"Rory told me to watch over the oven while they went to get their swimsuit." Tabitha explained.

"Tabitha told me that when she showed up at the library for our hangout." I added.

"Rory would have had to go through the pool room to get the locker room, meaning they either went there before the murder or..." The journalist's voice grew quiet.

"Or?" Tabitha tilted her head.

"Rory could be the killer." Minerva whispered. "But that's a conversation for the trial! We can't do much but speculate right now."

"Yeah." The blonde brushed off the other female's theory, annoyed. "Rory wouldn't kill anyone."

While I agree with Minerva's theory, I also agree with what Tabitha said.

Rory's not the killer.

Though, this swimsuit thing does raise some concerns.

"Is that all you needed?" Tabitha asked Minerva.

"One more thing. How long did you and Felix's library hangout last for?" The red haired woman asked.

"From when I left the kitchen to a little bit before the body discovery announcement." Explained the influencer.

"I had left to get Isaiah some food." I informed her.

"Isaiah was there?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"Nora too." Tabitha frowned.

"Blane with us briefly; it was before the four of us started playing a card game." I added on the blonde's statement. "Blane, Isaiah, and I had a conversation about the motive while I waited for Tabitha."

"I guess Bland got upset while those 3 were talking because him and I ran into each other." The influencer elaborated. "Literally."

"It was actually on my way to get Isaiah some food that I saw..." I froze. "...inside the infirmary."

"Right." Minerva finished up the notes she was making. "Thank you both for your accounts."

"No problem, I guess." Tabitha turned to me. "Are you gonna be alright bestie?"

"I should be fine." I assured her. "The hard part of looking at the body is already over."

"Oh, hehe, yeah..." Tabitha glanced around for a few minutes. "Well if we're done here, I'm going to ask the robot dog bitch when I can get my phone back. Bye bestie!"

"Bye!" I waved to her as we parted ways.

I turned back to Minerva who clicked her pen upon finishing her notes on me and Tabitha's accounts.

"We need to find Isaiah and Blane to confirm their accounts." Minerva suggested.

Isaiah...

"I never got Isaiah a plate!" I remembered.

"Don't worry." Said the voice from behind me. "I got one."

"Sorry I couldn't get you one." I apologized. "I got distracted."

"Right." Isaiah didn't appear to believe me.

"We're investigating and I need to confirm your account, Isaiah." Minerva turned to Isaiah. "A couple people mentioned you."

"After leaving the dining room this morning, I did nothing until 3 PM." The blonde man informed us. "At 3 PM I went to the library. I conversed with Blane, then following his absence, I played cards with Felix, Tabitha, and Nora. Felix stepped out to get me a plate shortly before the announcement went off. Is that all you needed?"

"I believe so." The journalist replied. "Unless you have any discoveries to inform us about."

"There's nothing of value in the library." He stated, before pushing his glasses up.

"Makes sense." I agreed. "If the killer had used anything from there in the crime, our group would have noticed things being off."

"Exactly." The romance novelist agreed. "We also would have seen if someone had come in and taken something."

"Alright, that should be everything I need from you." Minerva said.

"That means it's hint time!" Nora loudly announced.

"Where did you come from?!" I jumped.

"The infirmary." Nora answered. "Blane lost his chance at the hint, meaning you 3 have a chance."

"Oh!" Minerva's eyes lit up. "I need to confirm your account too, Nora."

"If one of you correctly answers my question and gets the hint, I'll give you my account as a treat." Nora gave us a cheeky smirk.

Is Nora's alibi really that valuable?

...Regardless, I should try my best to answer this.

"Alright, let me see..." Nora checked her inner suit pocket for a flashcard. She took a second to read over it, before putting it away.

Impulsively, Nora took the card back out, crumbed it up and tossed it in the floor behind her.

"Nevermind!" She said to no one in particular. "I just thought of a much better question!"

How long did Nora hold the talent of Ultimate Game Show Host?

a). Less than 1 year

b). 1 year

c). 2 years

d). 4 years

I think it's either 2 or 4 years. But I'm not sure which one to pick...

"Is it 4 years?" I guessed.

"Beep!" Nora replied. "What an unlucky guess."

"2 years?" The journalist guessed.

"Beep!" Nora beeped again. "I'm flattered by both of your answers, but unfortunately I'm not that talented. No hint for you guys!"

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Author Note:

That's all I have for this chapter lol. Please check out the next chapter for more information.